'This Week' Transcript: Kaine and Steele

May 23, 2010

Page 2 of 16

TAPPER: We have -- we actually have the video clip. Let's watch that.

(CROSSTALK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: What I don't like from the president's administration is this
sort of, you know, I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP, and I
think it's part of this sort of blame game society in the sense that
it's always got to be someone's fault, instead of the fact that maybe
sometimes accidents happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Certainly, accidents happen is not what you want the
Republican response about the BP oil spill--

STEELE: Well, you know, well, look, I mean, it's not -- people
shouldn't worry about the Republican response to the BP oil spill. They
should worry about the Democrat president's response to the BP oil
spill. It is one thing to actually get on the ground and get in front
of this thing. It's another thing to sit back and hold BP accountable
without helping them, and that's what's happening here. I mean, the
federal government should have stepped into this thing immediately, to
help make sure that the appropriate steps are being taken by BP, all
federal agencies in support of the state government to try to get this
thing cleaned up. And here we are, almost a month and a half later, and
it's still spilling oil.

TAPPER: How about that, Chairman Kaine? A lot of Democrats are
criticizing the Obama administration for not doing enough to hold BP
accountable.

KAINE: The administration is doing two things. It starts with BP's
accountability, and Rand Paul is wrong. It isn't un-American to hold
somebody accountable for a massive environmental disaster of this kind.
This isn't just a mistake that we can wash away. BP has got to be
accountable for stopping the spill and then cleaning up and paying for
the consequences. The administration has had a team working with BP
from the very beginning trying to look at ways to help them do it, but
it is BP's job. They have to be held accountable, and saying that it's
just a mistake that needs to be washed away, or saying, as Rand Paul
did, for example, that, you know, we needn't be so worried about things
like mining regulations -- I mean, this is a very important role that
the government has, to protect the safety of the environment and the
health of its citizens. And so, Rand Paul's statements along these
lines are very, very troubling, and it's important for Republican
leaders to say whether they back this kind of an attitude or not.

I was a civil rights lawyer for 17 years. Rand Paul wrote a letter
about the Fair Housing Act to a local newspaper, saying a free society
should tolerate private discrimination, even if it means that
hate-filled groups exclude people based on the color of their skin.